Thursday
We woke up early and flew into JFK. Our friends Rick and Ayme are living in DC right now and Rick was able to schedule work in NYC while we were there so we could meet up. We decided to be adventurous and take The AirTran and Subway instead of a Taxi to the hotel. Luckily Bryan and I can follow directions and were able to make it to the hotel! Rick was still working when we arrived so Ayme, Bryan and I walked around Times Square until Rick got off. Our first meal in the big city was at a darling restaurant called Amarone a few blocks from Times Square. It was such a cute little restaurant and was delicious. After dinner we walked around a bit more. We went to Rockefeller Center to see where the tree and ice skating would be.
This was our view from our hotel room
Friday
We decided to spend our first day in the Financial District. We went to a great restaurant called SouthWest NY that overlooked the Hudson River for lunch before we headed over to the Statue of Liberty. We chose SouthWest NY because it has outside seating right next to the river. Apparently it's a popular restaurant because we weren't able to get a table close to the river. We decided to walk along the river to the Statue Cruises station. This was probably my favorite walk in NYC. The weather was incredible and we had amazing views of the Statue of Liberty and the New Jersey Skyline. After touring the Statue of Liberty we walked to the Financial District, to Canal Street, to Little Italy (where we had scrumptious Gelato at Ferrara), to SoHo to eat at Lombardi's Pizza. Lombardi's was licensed as America's First Pizzeria - and whether or not that is true it was delicious! I seriously recommend getting your pizza from Lombardi's! After dinner we did more walking around and sightseeing.
Saturday
Ah....the bomb scare. We started the morning at Thalia's for brunch. I've learned that whenever my boss recommends a restaurant, I'm going to eat there. The restaurant had such a great vibe and the food was ridiculously good. After brunch we took a taxi to The MET. There was a Picasso Exhibit while we were there. So, we spent most our time with Picasso and European art. To tour all of The MET would take days! The building is amazing. After the MET we headed back to Times Square to get in line for tickets to a play. We got our first choice - A Behanding in Spokane. Christopher Walken was the lead and was hilarious. Before the play we freshened up and then headed to dinner at Junior's. While we were eating we experienced the first events of the bomb scare. The people eating outside at the restaurant were evacuated. At this time we had no idea why and didn't think much about it. After dinner we had to walk about a block to the Schoenfeld Theater. While we were walking to the theatre we noticed the robot they use for bombs. We assumed they were shooting a movie right in Times Square. Luckily we decided to head to the theatre early because the police blocked off the streets about 10 minutes after we got to the theatre. Our show was postponed for about a half hour because they were waiting to see if more people would filter in. Finally we got word there was a bomb scare and the roads were blocked off. And since we were stuck in the theatre they would do the show. So, it worked out for us because they let everyone move up and we were in the front row. After the theatre we were escorted back to our hotel and were pretty much stuck there because everything was blocked off. So, we decided to eat dessert in our room. The guys went next door to get chocolate cake and then we ordered some milk and ice cream from room service. We had no idea how expensive room service would be in a Marriott in Time Square. I think we paid $50 for 4 glasses of milk and a tiny carton of ice cream. It was yummy though!
Sunday
We started the day with Sacrament Meeting at the Manhattan Temple. We weren't able to do a session at the temple, so we were glad that we were able to at least see it up close and personal. After church we walked to Central Park. The park is actually really beautiful and it was packed with people. People were sunbathing and playing catch and just reading. After we walked around Central Park we headed to the West side to eat at Gray's Papaya. This was one of the places I was most excited to eat and it was the most disappointing too. Apparently Gray's Papaya is Regis' favorite hot dog place and it was featured in the movie Fools Rush In. But it did not live up - it was fine but nothing to brag about. After lunch we headed back through Central Park to the East side to go to the Guggenheim. We loved the Guggenheim. It is such a nicely laid out museum. We were able to see everything and our feet weren't killing us at the end. Late at night we went to the top of the Rockefeller Center to get the view. We found out that it is much faster to go to the Top of the Rock then it is to go to the top of the Empire State Building. Plus, on the Top of the Rock you get a great view of the Empire State Building.
Monday
We woke up late and hung out with Ayme in the hotel room for awhile. After we packed up a bit and got ready we headed to Serendipity. It really is the most darling restaurant and has the yummiest food and most delicious frozen hot chocolate. We will be going back to Serendipity any time we go back to NYC. After lunch we walked down 5th Avenue for a little while and looked at all the pretty shops. We went into Bloomies for a minute (It made me feel like I was hanging out with Rachel & Monica). After our walk we went back to the hotel to say goodbye to Rick and Ayme and then headed to the airport to go home.
We loved New York and we loved seeing Rick and Ayme again! Can't wait for next time.
